​﻿St. Mary of the Sp﻿rings Catholic Church in Hot Springs, Arkansas is called ﻿b﻿y Our Lord to be a welc﻿oming beacon of faith to all people on the spiritual journey to the Kingdom of God.﻿We commit, by the grace of Jesus Christ, to be a people of God who, in a welcoming environment, gather to worship and pray. We pledge to provide a challenging and quality-filled Catholic education, to reach out with love and compassion, and serve those in our parish, community, and the world.﻿In unison with the Rom﻿an Catholic Churc﻿h, the Diocese of Little Rock and St. Mary's, we will have a faith community that enables us through Christian stewardship to fulfill Our Lord's Commission, "Go forth and make disciples of all nations."

From the Pastor's Desk

“Brothers and sisters, live in a manner worthy of your calling.” With these words Saint Paul reminds the Church in Ephesus of their duty to live out their calling or vocation in accordance with the great gift that God had entrusted to them through baptism, which was offered uniquely to each one in His invitation of discipleship and service to the Church.

We at St. Mary’s are also called, we also have a vocation. Often we mistakenly think that only brothers, sisters and priests are called to a consecrated life, a life dedicated solely to Christ and his Church. The fact is that we are all called as disciples of Christ to the consecrated life proper to our own state. This means that married couples are no less called to a consecrated life; one dedicated not to the fulfillment of their own desires, plans and wishes but one consecrated or dedicated to the joy and fulfillment of our spouse and family. Consecration is the act of setting apart something as holy and dedicated to God. For the monk or nun, the consecrated life is lived out by giving themselves fully, freely and without reservation to their community and its charism. For a priest, it is a consecration to the service of a Bishop and a portion of the people of God. If we are married, our level of consecration to our spouse and family is the same: full, free and without reservation for life. It is through faithfulness to our vocation that we serve Christ.

In his letter, St. Paul also notes that our consecration to Christ and our response to our vocation must be lived out in the community of faith, the people of God, where we learn to live together as family. At St. Mary’s we are dedicated to learning to “live in a manner worthy of our calling” in Christ by consecrating ourselves to Christ and His Church, “living with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace.” (Eph 4:1-5)

I would like to extend a personal invitation to you if your are not already a member of St Mary’s parish to join us in our mission to follow Mary in her command to “do whatever he tells you” by living consecrated to Christ as we strive to live out our vocation in the community of faith. - Father George